"Jean from Aurelia University High and Owen from Fairview No. 1—two geniuses worthy of their names!!"
"How accurate are the rankings? Will it really be Jean and Owen fighting for the championship??"
"Ghost-type vs. Normal-type: Mutual immunity as a sign of friendship—who will claim the ultimate victory?"
If anyone had questioned the top four on the ranking list before today's matches, those doubts had largely vanished.
On this day, Owen once again led the Fairview No. 1 team to two more victories in the Team Battles. One match was relatively easy, with everyone contributing.
The other was an arduous struggle—much like the battle against Salt River—becoming a complete solo performance by Eevee.
Because of this, Owen and Eevee's online popularity exploded overnight.
"Boss, how are you feeling?"
"I'm doing okay," Owen replied calmly to Leo's question as they walked back to the athletes' village after dinner.
"Just 'okay'? If it were me, I'd be floating on air right now."
Owen squeezed Leo's arm and shook his head. "Dream on. With that much mass, if you could actually float, you'd be disrespecting old man Newton."
"Life is hard; why you gotta be like that?"
Owen chuckled. Browsing through the supportive comments online, he felt genuinely happy. Humans are like that—they need praise. Once they get it, their motivation skyrockets.
Owen told himself he had to keep working hard. Being famous as a rookie is impressive, but being able to maintain that momentum is what truly counts.
Upon returning to the dorm, Owen checked the time. 7:00 PM. It was too early to sleep. Despite a full day of battling, he surprisingly didn't feel fatigued. After a moment of thought, he decided to head out for some extra training.
The athlete's village was quite lively. Since many participants had already been eliminated from the Individual Tournament, they now had plenty of free time except for the occasional Team Battle.
Consequently, the village's battlefields were much more crowded than when they first arrived.
"Leo..."
Owen originally wanted to ask Leo to accompany him for some sparring, but true to form, Leo had fallen into a deep slumber the second he hit the bed, clearly exhausted from the day.
"What about Lynnea? Never mind."
It was late, and Owen felt a bit awkward asking Lynnea out alone, so he settled for going out by himself.
Owen brought Magnemite along as he headed outside. His primary goal was to increase Magnemite's battle experience.
As for giving Eevee more work in the middle of the night... Owen wasn't that heartless. Eevee had fought its heart out all day.
If he exploited it at night, Eevee wouldn't just go on strike tomorrow; it would probably burst into tears on the spot.
Finding an available battlefield, Owen began looking for a training partner. He couldn't go hard against his own teammates, but against students from other schools, there was no need to hold back.
Of course, if Owen accidentally challenged a Captain-level player, he and Magnemite might be the ones getting beaten, since Eevee hadn't come along.
"Hey there, classmates."
Owen spotted two girls and caught up to them.
"O-Owen?"
Seeing Owen, the two girls had complicated expressions. It was Owen who had personally knocked their school out of the tournament.
"Hey... would you two like to..."
"Bullying us—don't you have any shame?"
Before Owen could finish his challenge, the two girls glared at him and turned to leave.
"???" Owen was stunned. I didn't even get to say I'd use a different Pokémon!
How disappointing.
He approached five or six other people after that, but not a single person was willing to battle him. This forced Owen into a deep state of self-reflection. If this continued, regardless of the reason, his trip would be a waste of time.
"Forget it, let's not waste more time. We'll just shadow-box against the air," Owen said, holding Magnemite's Poké Ball. He found an empty training field and called Magnemite out.
?(⊙)?: "Koyi?!"
Magnemite inquired about the night's training task.
"I originally wanted you to battle other Pokémon, but unfortunately... due to Eevee's performance over the last two days... no one dares to accept my challenges anymore," Owen sighed.
Magnemite also fell into thought. Is Owen hinting at something?
"Anyway, enough talk," Owen coughed and said, "Let's continue the practice from before. The technique I named the 'Railgun' (Super Electromagnetic Cannon) that we tried the other day."
"Koyi!!" Magnemite nodded immediately.
The day Magnemite had fought those four consecutive battles, after its recovery, its previous learning efforts finally bore fruit: it had mastered the move Lock-On.
Most Pokémon have different ways of using Lock-On. Magnemite's version worked by sensing the opponent's mental fluctuations via electromagnetic waves to achieve a lock.
Since this Magnemite had a natural talent for mental energy, learning Lock-On was much easier for it than for other Magnemites.
Once it mastered Lock-On, Owen immediately started training it for the "Railgun." This technique, which could be categorized as a combination move, would significantly boost Magnemite's combat power.
What Magnemite lacked right now was a decisive "trump card." When Eevee was at this stage, it had already mastered the Counter Shield.
Magnemite, however, was still using standard moves. As an ambitious trainer, Owen wouldn't be confined to fixed move-sets.
Every effort he made now was to build a more complete "Move Secret Manual" for his future as a Professional Trainer.
The idea for the Railgun had surfaced during his winter break travels—or rather, he had recalled it.
Using Magnet Bomb as the projectile, he used Magnemite's high-voltage current, electromagnetic waves, and the Magnet Pull ability to construct an electromagnetic field system.
Simultaneously, Magnemite's strong mental energy worked in tandem with Lock-On to correct the attack trajectory and aim at the target.
A Magnet Bomb with current passing through it creates acceleration within a magnetic field, resulting in much higher speed and lethality. It is a completely different technique from the standard Electric-type move Zap Cannon.
Magnemite had already mastered Magnet Bomb while in the hospital. Now that it had Lock-On, although it couldn't fluently combine the moves yet, experiments confirmed it had developed a certain degree of accuracy.
The next step was simply to keep practicing. Once it evolved into Magneton and potentially learned Tri-Attack, this combination move would likely become a staple of its arsenal.
As Magnemite became more proficient in manipulating electromagnetism and mental energy, Owen felt that using this move against enemies was only a matter of time.
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